Cruise ships at Phuket

[lonelywombat]

Rrecently in a travel article, there was a photo of several cruise ships anchored off Phuket.

I am interested in learning more

Has anybody tried these cruises and it is possible to do a round trip, returning to Phuket?

What is the best time weatherwise to take one of these cruises.

I was planning to be in Phuket in august/september

people usually don't do roundtrip on cruise ships, and the price on cruise ship are usually for one way. But I suppose you can do that, just pay double price.

[jvt22222]

............ I had a four-hour visit from long-time friends who were on a cruise ship that docked at the port between Pattaya and BKK, at Laem Chabang .............. they had boarded the ship in Hong Kong having flown there from the USA ............. then a couple of stops in Vietnam, Laem Chabang, Singapore, Phuket, then on to spots in India through the Suez Canal and ending up in Athens. ............ the cruise line was OCEANIA CRUISES www.oceaniacruises.com (http://www.oceaniacruises.com) ................. check out the web site....... not sure, but would assume that you could get on at any stop and get off at any subsequent stop ........... for example get on in Laem Chabang and get off at Phuket???? ......... for the price of a ticket. In their case they had a choice of many excursions for the day they were in port at Laem Chabang, one of which was a "Day at the Beach in Pattaya" ........ they were dropped off at Royal Garden's Marriott Hotel at about 11:30 a.m. and picked up again at the same spot at 4:00 p.m. Not much time but since we had not seen each other in decades was really a special way to dine for Easter. Would love to know what you find out if you research this.

There are quite a few cruise ships sailing from Singapore that do a 4 or 5-day cruise up the Straits of Malacca, calling at Penang and Phuket. One or two of those that you saw anchored right now off Phuket might be these.

I doubt if it's a good idea for the gay travellor however. These ships tend to call at port during the day with day activities onshore organised in advance. They do their sailing at night so that the next morning, one has arrived at the next port. This usually means that all passengers will have to be back on board by about 10 or 11 pm at the latest. Since that's when the bars open, you'll be missing them all.

I have vague memories of David in Pattaya taking a short cruise from Laem Chabang

http://www.starcruises.com/Destinations ... huket.html (http://www.starcruises.com/Destinations/Thailand/phuket.html)

[bing]

A cruise is a great idea. If you are traveling alone, note you will probably be charged 150 to 200 percent of ticket, as all cruise ships prices are based on double occupancy. But aside from extra charge cruise ships are fun.

one thing I don't like about cruise is that you are forced to share a big table and dine with strangers if you want to eat in the main dining room. This is how it works on American and European cruiseship. I don't know aout asian cruise ship though.

[andrewcraig]

My friend had a choice of a fly/cruise all inclusive that started and finishes at Singapore

It sounded similar to the 3 and 4 day cruise out of Miami

I think one of the 4 days went to Phuket

[lonelywombat]

thank you to the person who sent me a private message with this link

http://www.starcruises.com/Destinations ... huket.html (http://www.starcruises.com/Destinations/Thailand/phuket.html)

We had given up on a cruise and now maybe back on the agenda

It appears to be a round trip SG/SG via Phuket

maybe we can get Phuket/Sg/Phuket

There are quite a few cruise ships sailing from Singapore that do a 4 or 5-day cruise up the Straits of Malacca, calling at Penang and Phuket. One or two of those that you saw anchored right now off Phuket might be these.

I doubt if it's a good idea for the gay travellor however. These ships tend to call at port during the day with day activities onshore organised in advance. They do their sailing at night so that the next morning, one has arrived at the next port. This usually means that all passengers will have to be back on board by about 10 or 11 pm at the latest. Since that's when the bars open, you'll be missing them all.

Hi,

I did that cruise years ago. It was not a gay cruise though.

We flew and picked up the ship in Phuket and went to Burma [Myanmar], Yangon, Pegu etc. then we came down through the straits of Malacca stopping at various places. I visited KL,Penang,and another beachy place, with a bloody great refinery at one end of the island.

We wrapped up in Singapore at the Westin Stamford Hotel, then back to the UK. The crew were nearly all Filipino and very good.

It was good news and a great cruise. We were the first cruise ship in Burma for years. I bought a 99.99% gold coin with Burmese inscriptions and the Star of Myanmar, I still have it. It took them ages to do the purchase with a credit card!!

If memory serves me correct, the main Hotel was the Strand in Yangon, it was like stepping back into a time warp. Secret police followed us everywhere in those days. and we had to be back on board by about 9pm

Brings back memories this thread.

PS I have just looked, the other island was Langkawi. We also stayed first at the Sheraton in Bangkok. I remember we only had a couple of days in Thailand and four in Singapore andI spent the time wishing it had been vice versa

It must be a long time since you were on a cruise.
A lot of the bigger cruise lines , Princes especially on there larger ships.
Have dine when you want , they have the traditional sit at the big tables and a set time and most of them have 2 other dining rooms that
serve the same food . One will open 5:30 till 10 and the other one will open from 6 till 11. It is like a regular restaurant you tell them how many is in your party and that sit you in that size table. They also have some big tables if you would rather sit with a lot of people. It is nice where you don't have a set time to eat if you have a late lunch, then you can go eat your evening meal any time you want. Most all of them have a buffet that serve the same meals as in the formal dining rooms. So there is really something for every one.

We had a free and easy style breakfast and lunch.

Dinner was more formal, and the same table every evening.

I've actually done two cruises myself, one was Asia as I mentioned, the other was Europe including Monte Carlo, Italy, France etc.

Both were very good value for money, in my opinion.